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Statue of "Big Ole the Viking" in Alexandria, Minnesota, proclaiming the city the "Birthplace of America," based on an assumed authenticity of the Kensington Stone. The Kensington Runestone is a slab of greywacke stone covered in runes that was discovered in Western Minnesota, United States, in 1898.
A number of runestones have been found in Oklahoma. All of them are of modern origin dating to the 19th century "Viking revival" or were produced by 19th-century Scandinavian settlers. The oldest find is the "Heavener Runestone," first documented in 1923.
There are scattered examples elsewhere (the Berezan' Runestone in Eastern Europe, [5] and runic graffiti on the Piraeus Lion from Greece but today in Venice, Italy). [ 6 ] The vast majority of runestones date to the Viking Age and the period immediately following the Christianisation of Scandinavia (9th to 12th centuries).
A runestone is typically a raised stone with a runic inscription, but the term can also be applied to inscriptions on boulders and on bedrock. The tradition of erecting runestones as a memorial to dead men began in the 4th century and lasted into the 12th century, but the majority of the extant runestones date from the late Viking Age.
Two groups of runestones erected in Denmark mention a woman named Thyra, which suggests she was a powerful Viking sovereign who likely played a pivotal role in the birth of the Danish realm.
The Narragansett Runestone, also known as the Quidnessett Rock, [1] is a 2.5 t (2,500 kg) slab of metasandstone located in Rhode Island, United States. It is 5 (1.5m) feet high and 7 feet (2.1m) long. [ 2 ]
Researchers excavating ancient graves in eastern Norway uncovered multiple fragments that, when fitted together, represent the world's oldest known rune stone.
Purported runestones have been found in North America, most famously the Kensington Runestone. These are generally considered forgeries or misinterpretations of Native American petroglyphs. [107] There are many unsubstantiated claims of Norse colonization in New England. [108]